Abdul Rahim Ishak (25 July 192518 January 2001) was a Singaporean politician, diplomat and journalist. A member of the

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...

(PAP), Abdul was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Siglap from 1963 to 1984. He was also a Minister of State for Education from 1965 to 1968 and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs for 1969 to 1972. He was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary first to the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971. It was initially a short-lived political union between Republic of Egypt (1953–1958), Egypt (including Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Ara ...

in 1967,

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

in 1969, and to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

from 1974 to 1979. He became an envoy to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in July 1982. He was the youngest brother of

Yusof bin Ishak Yusof bin Ishak Al-Haj ( ; 12 August 191023 November 1970) was a Singaporean journalist and civil servant who served as the head of state of Singapore from 1959 to 1970. He initially served as the second Yang di-Pertuan Negara of Singapore be ...

, the first

President of Singapore The president of the Republic of Singapore, is the head of state of Singapore. The president represents the country in official diplomatic functions and possesses certain executive powers over the government of Singapore, including the contro ...

Early life

Born 25 July 1925 in Singapore, Abdul received his education at King Edward VII School in

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

and Raffles College in Singapore, and was eligible to be a teacher. He worked as a news journalist for the ''Utusan Melayu'' from 1947 to 1959.

Career and personal life

Abdul served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary first to the

in 1968, to

, and

in 1969, and to

from 1974 to 1979. He became an envoy to

in July 1981, succeeding Lee Khoon Choy. He succeeded Chan Keng Howe as High Commissioner to New Zealand officially on 12 July 1981. His spouse Cik Mawan Wajid Khan was the president of the Siglap Women's Association. They had six children; they had at least one daughter, Lily Zubaidah Rahim.

Later life and death

Abdul retired from his political career in 1984 and was rarely seen in public. In December 2000, he was hospitalised for treatment. He died on 18 January 2001 from an unspecified illness, aged 75. Many leaders in Asia offered their condolences.

References

{{Authority control 1925 births Singaporean politicians of Malay descent 2001 deaths People's Action Party politicians Singaporean people of Minangkabau descent Members of the Dewan Rakyat Members of the Legislative Assembly of Singapore